Nuclear Watch New Mexico

08/21/2026

Nuclear Weapons Issues & The Accelerating Arms Race: July 2026https://nukewatch.org/2026/07/31/nuclear-weapons-issues-the-accelerating-arms-race-july-2026/Nuclear Weapons:

Budget: The House of Representatives passed a fiscal 2027 continuing resolution to keep the government running through Dec. 4 (the new fiscal year begins Oct 1). The White House Office of Management and Budget is requesting a series of anomalies, or exceptions, to the CR rule that funding be limited to the levels of the prior fiscal year. One anomaly is for the new Trump-class battleship.

For the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA): it’s the Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade (the new powerline across the Caja del Rio); enhanced subcritical tests at the Nevada National Security Site; and, most dangerous of all, allowing the NNSA to reprogram funding by itself within its Total Weapons Activities budget category.

The Senate is basically doing the same, plus an anomaly for ‘‘21– D–401 Hoisting Capability Project’’ at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. WIPP has been operationally shut down for a few months now due to a burnt-out hoist motor.

The House and Senate must resolve their relatively minor differences and get Trump’s signature before October 1 to prevent a government shutdown.

Regular authorization (the annual Defense Authorization Act) and appropriations are unlikely to move until mid-term elections (~86 days to go).

Plutonium pit production:

Other/Related

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026/08/why-hill-republicans-are-competing-for-nuclear-waste-01015140 Why some Republicans want to bring nuclear waste home – For decades, politicians have treated nuclear waste as politically radioactive. Now, Republicans are competing to bring it home. The Department of Energy announced last week that it had signed memorandums of agreement with Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Idaho to explore creating facilities to support the full nuclear fuel cycle — from enrichment of uranium and fabricating fuel to disposing of waste. Rather than resisting an initiative that could bring more nuclear waste to their states, some Republicans are actively courting the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses, arguing they could anchor advanced nuclear industries and bring billions of dollars in investment.

*Also mixed in with AI and data centers, for which Small Modular Reactors might supply power.

Accelerating Arms Race:

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08/10/2026

The nuclear bomb the United States of America dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9th, 1945 was fabricated at Los Alamos National Laboratory. We had a beautiful remembrance for this 81st anniversary on the Santa Fe Plaza, less than 40 miles (as the crow flies) from the lab.

Dr. Ivana Nikolić Hughes, the President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Nuclear Ban, spoke on Sunday to commemorate the lives lost in Nagasaki 81 years ago, and remind us that the only path forward is nuclear weapons disarmament and abolition ICAN

Thank you Veterans for Peace Veterans For Peace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety CCNS, the Santa Fe Raging Grannies, Nuclear Ban and others for a lovely gathering honoring the Hiroshima and Nagasaki hibakusha. There were sing-alongs and short speeches.

Following this event was an 11am mass at the Cathedral Basilica where Father Ito of Japan gave a homily calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons 🙏 ☮️ 🌏

08/07/2026

Nuclear Watch New Mexico sues Department of Energy for plutonium pit reporthttps://nukewatch.org/new-and-updated-item/nuclear-watch-new-mexico-sues-department-of-energy-for-plutonium-pit-report/By Clara Bates , Santa Fe New Mexican | August 5, 2026 santafenewmexican.com

A nuclear watchdog group that focuses on Los Alamos National Laboratory recently sued the federal government for what it says are failures to comply with open records law and hand over a study.

Nuclear Watch New Mexico filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on July 23 against the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration. The group on Dec. 22 filed a records request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking a copy of a study related to plutonium pit production, the complaint states, but hasn’t received any of the records.

A spokesperson for the Department of Energy, which also houses the National Nuclear Security Administration, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

LANL is for now the only facility in the nation capable of producing plutonium pits, which serve as the trigger devices for nuclear weapons…

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08/07/2026

Today, August 6, 2026, is the 81st Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima.https://nukewatch.org/2026/08/06/today-august-6-2026-is-the-81st-anniversary-of-the-u-s-atomic-bombing-of-hiroshima/Iain MacGregor August 5, 2026 engelsbergideas.com

The New START treaty – enforced since 2011 and the last remaining arms‑control agreement between the United States and Russia – expired in February 2026 with nothing to replace it. The final legal barrier limiting the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals was removed, ushering in what analysts describe as a period of Great Power uncertainty. China, meanwhile, is rapidly expanding and modernising its nuclear forces, with its stockpile more than doubling in just five years and further growth expected throughout the decade.

In the Middle East, the erosion of nuclear restraint has accelerated sharply. Recent US-Israeli attacks have pushed Iran closer than ever to abandoning the Nuclear Non‑Proliferation Treaty (NPT): Tehran still possesses enough enriched uranium to place it within short technical reach of multiple nuclear warheads, while senior political and security figures openly debate withdrawal from the NPT as a defensive necessity rather than a diplomatic taboo. The precedent – of a major regional power crossing the nuclear threshold outside any arms‑control framework – would reverberate far beyond the region .

North Korea, emboldened by global fragmentation, insists that its arsenal is ‘irreversible’. Across Europe and Asia, public opinion in countries such as Poland, Turkey and South Korea is shifting toward domestic nuclear capability as confidence in US security guarantees becomes frayed. The precarious equilibrium of the non‑proliferation era is cracking just when the living memory of the bomb’s human cost has never been more vital.

In such a landscape, the work of remembering what nuclear weapons do – not in theory, but to human bodies and cities – becomes urgent again. Eighty years ago, one American writer succeeded in forcing the world to confront this reality. His name was John Hersey, and the story he told in August 1946 in the New Yorker magazine , about the world’s first nuclear strike against the Japanese port city of Hiroshima the previous year, remains one of the clearest moral documents of the atomic age…

Ian MacGregor outlines precisely above the current state and reality of the new nuclear arms race we are now in, more dangerous than the first.

Continue reading

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08/06/2026

August 6, 2026 is the 81st Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima. Our heart and memory are with the people of Japan today🙏☮️

🔔We are currently in a new nuclear arms race, more dangerous than the first.

❗️”Rationality will not save us… this is very important: at the end we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war.” Robert McNamara ❗️

• All weapons states are “modernizing” and keeping their nuclear weapons indefinitely, contrary to the 1970 NonProliferation Treaty.
• There are multiple nuclear weapons powers with competing interests.
• There is increased chance of regional nuclear wars.
• Artificial intelligence could sideline human judgement in the command and control of nuclear weapons.

The US “modernization” of its nuclear weapons arsenal is a $2 trillion endeavor to rebuild nuclear warheads extended for decades with new military capabilities, design and build completely new-design nuclear weapons, build new ICBMs, new cruise missiles, heavy stealth bombers and strategic submarines, and construct new nuclear weapons production facilities expected to be operational until 2080.

Meanwhile, taxes are cut for the ultrarich, homelessness explodes and health care is drastically cut. How is this national security?

The one-word rationale for nuclear weapons is always “a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent…” But the Pentagon rejects “minimal deterrence” while “reiterating the need to maintain counterforce capabilities.” The US and Russia have always rejected minimal deterrence in favor of nuclear warfighting capabilities that could end civilization overnight. That is why we have 1,000s of nuclear weapons instead of a “mere” few hundred.

Deterrence relies upon the flawed assumption that all actors will behave rationally, and that accidents or miscalculations will never occur. History says otherwise. Nuclear warfighting capabilities are driving so-called “modernization.”

Recommended reading 👓: Daniel Ellsberg’s The Doomsday Machine; Archbishop John Wester’s pastoral letter “A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament”; New article by Iain MacGregor “John Hersey and the horrors of Hiroshima”

This October 1st, Los Alamos Lab will

08/06/2026

Nuclear Watchdog Sues for Plutonium Pit Production “Special Study”

Santa Fe, NM – Nuclear Watch New Mexico has sued the Department of Energy under the Freedom of Information Act for its Special Study of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Leadership and Management of the Plutonium Pit Production Mission. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is the semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency within DOE.

Plutonium “pits” are the radioactive cores or “triggers” of nuclear weapons. Their expanded manufacturing has been the chokepoint of resumed industrial-scale nuclear weapons production by the U.S. Crucially, no future pit production is to maintain the safety and reliability of the existing stockpile. Instead, it is all for new-design nuclear weapons for the new arms race.

Santa Fe, NM – Nuclear Watch New Mexico has sued the Department of Energy under the Freedom of Information Act for its Special Study of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Leadership and Management of the Plutonium Pit Production Mission. The National Nuclear Security Administration (...

08/06/2026

Today, August 6, 2026, is the 81st Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima.

*Recommended Reading: John Hersey and the horrors of Hiroshima The American journalist's account of the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath, told through the eyes of Japanese survivors, forced the world to reckon with the terrifying power of nuclear weapons. - by Iain MacGregor, August 5, 2026 https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/john-hersey-and-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/

Ian MacGregor outlines precisely the current state and reality of the new nuclear arms race we are now in, more dangerous than the first.
• All weapons states are “modernizing” and keeping their nuclear weapons indefinitely, contrary to the 1970 NonProliferation Treaty.
• There are multiple nuclear weapons powers with competing interests.
• There is increased chance of regional nuclear wars (e.g., India-Pakistan).
• Artificial intelligence could sideline human judgement in the command and control of nuclear weapons.

The US “modernizing” every leg of the triad in its nuclear weapons arsenal means Nuclear Weapons Forever. It's a $2 trillion endeavor to rebuild nuclear warheads extended for decades with new military capabilities, design and build completely new-design nuclear weapons, build new ICBMs, new cruise missiles, heavy stealth bombers and strategic submarines, and construct new nuclear weapons production facilities expected to be operational until 2080.

Meanwhile, taxes are cut for the ultrarich, homelessness explodes and health care is drastically cut. How is this national security?

This October 1st, Los Alamos Lab will receive a $1 billion increase in budget for nuclear weapons programs alone. Everything else is being cut. Non-proliferation budget is staying flat, cleanup's being cut, renewable energy is just completely gone.

Concerning all the other sites in the DOE nuclear weapons complex, Los Alamos is almost double the next. The next site with the most money is Sandia, also in our very own state (Sandia is also in California, but this shows the key position that the land of enchantment plays).

The push for "modernization" of the US’s nuclear arsenal is directly linked to plutonium pit production at Los Alamos, specifically expanding plutonium pit production. Plutonium “pits” are the radioactive fissile cores of nuclear weapons. New plutonium pits are not needed to maintain the existing stockpile - it is all for future, new designs. And these new weapons cannot be tested because of the testing moratorium - or conversely could pressure the US to resume testing. In 2006, independent experts have concluded pits last at least 85 years (their average age is now 43). There is no estimated expiration date. There are at least 15,000 existing pits at NNSA’s Pantex Plant in Texas. All of this planned future pit production is exorbitantly expensive, yet the National Nuclear Security Administration still has no credible cost estimate for this >$60 billion program.

The one-word rationale for nuclear weapons is always “a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent...” But the Pentagon rejects “minimal deterrence” while “reiterating the need to maintain counterforce capabilities.” Moreover, the U.S. and Russia have always rejected minimal deterrence in favor of nuclear warfighting capabilities that could end civilization overnight. That is why we have 1,000s of nuclear weapons and are funneling billions of dollars into mass death machines, even though everybody knows that a nuclear war must never be fought and can never be won. Deterrence relies upon the flawed assumption that all actors will behave rationally, and that accidents or miscalculations will never occur. History says otherwise; “deterrence” has already been fraught by accidents and miscalculations. Nuclear warfighting capabilities are driving so-called “modernization,” particularly plutonium pit production.

What is NNSA hiding? NNSA is covering up three crucial documents despite congressional and public Freedom of Information Act requests:

A new independent pit life study that could counter NNSA’s claims that aging drives the need for new production.
A critical “Special Study” on NNSA leadership and management of its troubled plutonium pit production program.
A new LANL “Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis” that was already nearly a decade overdue.

We just filed suit against DOE on item #2 - And we're working hard on getting the others released as well, through more lawsuits if we need to.

What can you do now? Be active! Good change does not come by itself.

The Pit Production PEIS sprung from successful citizen litigation. Public comment is important and can build the case for more litigation. Send comments now from this very room!
Actively support NMED in LANL cleanup and WIPP permit modification. This is especially important with new Governor.
Keep your eyes on the prize! We can win a world without nuclear weapons if we remain determined.

The American journalist's account of the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath, told through the eyes of Japanese survivors, forced the world to reckon with the terrifying power of nuclear weapons.

08/01/2026

Fire in glovebox at LANL plutonium facility sparks safety discussionhttps://nukewatch.org/new-and-updated-item/fire-in-glovebox-at-lanl-plutonium-facility-sparks-safety-discussion/Nuclear Newswire | July 30, 2026 ans.org

According to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) report , a fire occurred in a glovebox in the plutonium facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory on June 15. A test involving nonnuclear material was underway in the furnace inside the glovebox at the time of the incident.

An explanation for the cause of the fire has yet to be released. The incident has incited discussions among laboratory personnel and management regarding fire safety practices at the facility, including concerns raised by resident inspectors that most gloveboxes in the facility lack automatic fire suppression and that multiple similar preventable incidents have occurred at the facility in the past few years.

What we know: The DNFSB report said that on June 15, personnel were conducting a thermal treatment test of an americium recovery resin. The resin, which contained no nuclear material, had been placed in a furnace inside a glovebox. Having received a permit to do so, they left the room unattended, and when they returned they “smelled an unexpected odor and then saw smoke and subsequently flames coming from the furnace.”

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07/25/2026

NM Environment Secretary James C. Kenney Takes Aim At Department Of Energy LANL Legacy Waste Cleanup Program During Trinity Comm...https://nukewatch.org/new-and-updated-item/nm-environment-secretary-james-c-kenney-takes-aim-at-department-of-energy-lanl-legacy-waste-cleanup-program-during-trinity-commemoration-event-in-santa-fe/By: MAIRE O’NEILL [email protected], Deseret News | July 12, 2026 deseret.com

New Mexico Environment Department Sec. James Kinney was the guest speaker at Sunday’s annual Trinity Test Commemoration at St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe, and was expected to outline the department’s efforts to hold the federal government accountable for cleanup efforts and the protection of New Mexico’s water resources.

Other speakers were Dr. Michael Ketterer, Professor Emeritus at Northern Arizona University; Jay Coghlan, Executive Director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico; and Tina Cordova, Co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. The event is organized by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Back from the Brink New Mexico Hub, Interfaith Power and Light New Mexico, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Soka Gakkai International-USA, and the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.

Later in the afternoon when it was Secretary Kenney’s turn to speak, he recognized that 81 years ago with the Trinity Test, New Mexico and the world changed in “a moment of non-consent, a moment that nobody knew was coming”. He said it changed the trajectory of communities like Los Alamos and all over the state of New Mexico, who are dealing with the fallout of what transpired.

While pointing NMED staff members in the audience who had chosen to attend the event, Kenney said he wanted to be really clear that the Environment Department staff fully recognizes that their past is their call to action. He called those employees the community’s last bastion to hold the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration accountable.

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07/14/2026

Expanded federal law says these states and parts of others were downwind, but many don’t know they could be compensatedhttps://nukewatch.org/new-and-updated-item/expanded-federal-law-says-these-states-and-parts-of-others-were-downwind-but-many-dont-know-they-could-be-compensated/By: Lois M. Collins , Deseret News | July 12, 2026 deseret.com

When she was 29, Mary Dickson got thyroid cancer and chalked it up to bad luck or bad genes.

Her life had been pretty idyllic, despite being raised against the frightening backdrop of the Cold War.

She spent hours of her childhood running around in the gullies by her home near the mouth of Parleys Canyon in Salt Lake City. The neighborhood was packed with kids who pretended those rising and falling hills were rollercoasters, racing up and down, laughing and screaming. With seven kids in her house, she always had playmates.

Dickson and her friends also pretended at school. Children were taught to huddle under their wooden desks and cover their heads with their hands, pretending Russians were dropping bombs. Each child brought a bleach bottle filled with water, name scrawled in indelible marker so they’d have something to drink should bombs actually fall. Sometimes, they cowered in a “fallout shelter” — a crawlspace under the grade school— waiting for an audible all-clear.

But as most children get to do, Dickson grew up. She went to college, launched a career in journalism, married. Then came the cancer, with its then-brutal treatment: removal of her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes, followed by radioactive iodine-infused medicinal drinks that made her ovaries light up during monitoring. Hospital staff put a “Caution, radioactive material!” sign on her hospital room door. Even those delivering meals would reach in just far enough to put food on a nearby tray.

KEY POINTS:

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